As I start my lesson planning for the fall I am struggling with a dilemma. Do I use a textbook or not? I have already made the decision to “flip” the classroom again providing students with assigned Khan Academy videos to watch prior to class and then move through a series of centres (or “studios” as one of my brilliant friends recommended) during class time. But I am still hesitant to complete throw away the standard art history survey text. Perhaps it is just a security blanket?

After reading Alexandra Peers’ ArtNews article, Canon Fodder, I am seriously considering just doing away with the text all together! She notes “Some schools, such as Columbia and Wesleyan, have thrown out art-history textbooks altogether. Other schools still use them, although they find them seriously lacking. ‘Over the past 12 years, we have worked with, and been dissatisfied with, almost all of the major survey texts—we flood our students with too many places, titles, subjects, and dates,’ says [David] Levine.”

With a similar argument in her blog post, Bye, Bye Survey Textbook! Michelle Miller Fisher observes:

For a start, the books – pick any of the “big name” survey textbooks – are constantly going through editions for the purpose of making money (and improving images, text, etc – but really, baseline profit is the reason). The newest editions of any of them are well over $100. This is a great deal for any student to invest in, and a waste given that many of the students are going to use the books as giant and expensive coffee coasters before trading them at the end of the semester. Pearson, Stokstad’s publisher, did put together “My Arts Lab” which sourced materials from the web and synched them with their own to provide a “multi-media” experience for students that could be set as homework by the instructor. There’s also the “less expensive” $60 online textbook versions. None seem like thrilling alternatives.

Maybe it is time for me to let go of my glossy, illustrated security textbook!

In the model of student engagement promoted by Elizabeth Barkley, the synergy that promotes optimal engagement is created by twin helixes of motivation and active learning.[i] She further describes three classroom conditions that link the two: a sense of classroom community, optimal levels of challenge and holistic learning. I was particularly intrigued by this second condition in which teachers create synergy by presenting tasks that are sufficiently challenging but not so difficult as to discourage. Barkley identifies this sweet spot noting, “Somewhere between ‘been there done that’ and ‘dazed and confused’ lies the optimal level of challenge that engages students.”[ii] Similarly Lev Vygotsky, coined the term, “zone of proximal development” to describe an optimal learning environment where students are exposed to ideas and concepts slightly above their own developmental level. He argued learning was productive when there was a gap in “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers.” [iii] According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow is one of several mental states optimal for learning that occurs when a learner is appropriately challenged and deeply engaged.[iv] In yoga we often refer to this optimal level of challenge as “finding your edge”.

My first thought when reading this was, “Yikes, how do I do this with forty (or sometimes eighty) students all with different experiences and levels of development?” My next concern was how detrimental not providing appropriate levels of challenge can be to student engagement. Jere Brophy suggests that when tasks are too challenging students become anxious, but when activities are not challenging enough, they become bored.[v] Along with apathy, anxiety and boredom are key indicators of a lack of engagement.[vi] Even if you have the majority of students working at an optimal level of challenge, my fear is that the symptoms of disengaged learning that may develop in the minority that are not, can spread through the ranks.

Fortunately, Barkley is aware of this challenge and provides three different strategies for empowering students to take ownership of their learning and work within their own specific “zones of proximal development”. First she stresses the importance of providing robust, thoughtful, and authentic assessment, that aims to be realistic, using real-world situations. Second she calls for a teaching of metacognitive skills that ultimately help students learn how to learn. Finally she advocates for empowering students as partners in the learning process.

I identified with Maryellen Weimer’s characterization of today’s college students as “generally anxious and tentative…Most like, want, indeed need teachers who tell them exactly what to do. Education is something done unto them. It frequently involves stress, anxiety, and other forms of discomfort.”[vii] Many of the classes I have taught recently are made up of studio artists that required to take the class to complete their degree and are nervous to be in a more academic setting. Despite their creativity they are cautious and reticent to take control of their own learning. However, as Barkely notes, “Empowering students to be active partners in their learning requires a subtle but thorough shift in focus away from what the teacher is teaching to what and how the student is learning.”[viii]

I think I naturally teach metacognitive skills and empower students as partners in the learning process, but where I really struggle is in creating authentic assessments that meet an appropriate level of challenge for a diverse group of students. For me it will be important to remember Barkley’s proposition: “Instead of reciting, restating, or replicating through demonstration what he or she was taught or what is already known, the student has to carry out the kind of exploration and work that constitutes “doing” in the discipline.”[ix]

In my case this means replacing the dreaded slide test with what art historians really do: they write exhibition reviews, they curate art shows, they interview artists. Along with assigning students such activities I also would like to explore asking more “essential questions”. Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins define essential questions as open-ended, thought provoking and intellectually engaging. Such questions call for higher order thinking, point to important, transferable ideas, raise additional questions, require support and justification, and recur over time.[x] By design these questions draw out unique answers from students and encourage them to work at their own optimal level of challenge.

[i] Elizabeth F. Barkley, Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010): 24.
[ii] Barkley, 27.
[iii] Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978): 86.
[iv] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Intrinsic Motivation and Effective Teaching: A Flow Analysis,” Teaching Well and Liking It: Motivating Faculty to Teach Effectively ed. J. Bess (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1997): 72-89.
[v] Jere Brophy, Motivating Students to Learn (New York: Routledge, 2010).
[vi] Barkley, 28.
[vii] Maryellen Weimer, Learner-centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002): 23.
[viii] Barkley, 32.
[ix] Barkley, 29.
[x] Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins, Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding (Alexandria: ASCD, 2013): 3.

In Redefining the Liberal Arts, Sandra M. Moore asks, “What if colleges asked students to declare a mission rather than a major? What if kids were required to reflect more broadly on what they wanted to accomplish in life, rather than simply identify the company they’d like to work for? What if instead of using the academic curriculum to passively “fill a mind” colleges made sure that students were equipped with the kind of critical thinking and communication skills that might enable them to “change a mind” and, in so doing, make a positive impact on our ever-expanding global society?”

In a 2012 TED Talk Susan Cain highlights the extraordinary talents and specific abilities of introverted people.[i] Based on her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts, Cain argues that in a culture that prizes bold and outgoing extroverts, it can be challenging to be reserved and inwardly focused.[ii] She claims that one-third to one-half of the population is introverted, preferring solitary activities, and quiet reflection to group work and boisterous conversation. Here Cain is careful to assert that introversion is not simply shyness or a fear of social interaction but rather a way of relating to external stimuli. She provides a brief description of a historical shift from a culture of character to one of personality that in the 20^th century has celebrated charismatic and gregarious leaders. Finally Cain concludes by asking the audience to do three things that will empower introverts: reduce the focus on “group” work, spend more time in the “wilderness” unplugging, and looking into our own suitcases, a metaphor she uses to deftly explain the ways in which both introverts and extroverts value their own innate gifts.

As an introvert myself, I found Cain’s perspective refreshing. I can appreciate the desire to retreat from classroom environments to read quietly and process concepts on my own. However, as much as I applaud Cain for raising awareness of the unique needs of introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts (those able to negotiate both preferences), I think it is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of thoughtfully identifying the diversity actually present in most classrooms or learning communities. Educators must also consider learning styles, multiple intelligences, language skills (especially around English as a second language), educational backgrounds, and other factors that can impact student engagement.

While I appreciate Cain’s rallying cry to end the tyranny of group work and forced social interaction that can be so detrimental to introverts, I think it can be more nuanced. I believe that such collaborative work should stop all together (and neither does she), but I think it is a matter of providing students with more choice. Depending on the activity, it can be fruitful to allow students the autonomy to determine how they can work. As Elizabeth F. Barkley notes, “The need for self-determination works hand in hand with helping students build self-efficacy: they are more likely to believe they are capable of achieving a particular goal if they feel they are in control of the actions required for success.”[iii] Allowing students the independence to choose how they work in different instances serves two purposes. Primarily it gives both introverts and extroverts the ability to work in ways that serve them best, but I think it further allows them opportunities to periodically test their boundaries and challenge themselves when they feel comfortable in low-risk settings. Just as Cain consciously practices her public speaking, I would hope that I am able to foster an environment where introverted students can try their hand at “speaking dangerously.”

As an instructor I feel that it is my responsibility to strive to meet the diverse needs of students, introverted, extroverted or otherwise. Last semester I experimented with a flipped classroom model in which students were provided material (videos, texts, images, etc.) to review prior to our meeting, and then during class time groups of students rotated through three different stations. I feel that this format provides a great deal of flexibility for introverts and extroverts alike. Introverts were able to explore the material at their own pace, before coming to class and extroverts could if they choose to get together with others to view and discuss both before hand and during our session. Thinking ahead to next semester, Cain’s talk has also led me to reconsider what “participation” can look like for introverts versus extroverts. I have always provided different venues for students to contribute for example formal and informal class conversations but also online in a variety of different media. I was inspired by Cain’s talk and will work toward promoting an environment of privacy, freedom, and autonomy that will foster the kind of deep thought that will benefit all students, extroverts and introverts.

[i] Susan Cain, The Power of Introverts (February 2012) accessed 16 May 2015 http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts?language=en#t-57624
[ii] Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts (New York: Random House, 2013).
[iii] Elizabeth F. Barkley, Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010): 85.

This weekend Christi Spain-Savage, Siena College (Loudonville, NY), Myra E. Wright (Queen’s College CUNY, New York) and I will be hosting a workshop at the University of Milwaukee’s “Attending to Early Modern Women: It’s About Time” conference.

Our workshop engages with the Pedagogies subtopic, as it specifically focuses on time as a pedagogical tool. Interdisciplinary and comparative in its aims, our workshop proposes to examine three literary and art objects from a limited time frame, the year 1621, in order to perform a pedagogical time experiment. As a group of junior scholars, we are interested in how a perpetual shortage of time affects our methods in both teaching and research. Given this year’s theme, we’d like to take the opportunity to be frank about our hurried practices, and to ask whether there might be ways of viewing time limitations as fruitful intellectual challenges. Our workshop is therefore both experimental and highly participatory—we invite other teachers to join us in candid conversation about how we can get time on our side.

This workshop asks whether a delineation of historical time chosen at random—like the year 1621—can be a starting-point for interesting and productive work in both the classroom and the archive. We wondered how, with limited time, we could each develop short studies (also viable as lesson plans) that would relate to one another in useful and surprising ways. Could there be benefits to singling out a particular temporal frame and studying three different cultural objects that emerged within it? A decision to narrow our field of inquiry to 1621 is clearly a way to save time. One of our questions is whether this arbitrary decision can lead to rigorous scholarly work and dynamic classroom teaching. We also ask if it is possible to use the undergraduate classroom as one forum for our own very specialized research, without putting our educational needs before those of our students. With little time to work on conference papers and articles, we find ourselves having to choose between: either a stack of essays that need to be graded, or a proposal for a workshop; either a detailed lesson plan or a stint in the library. Can we find ways to make our research contribute to our classroom work, and vice versa?

This line of inquiry is particularly apt for academics early in their careers who are often faced with the daunting task of teaching survey courses, or introductory level classes with a very broad chronological or geographic range of subject matter. Indeed our decision to focus in or to narrow down may seem counter-intuitive, but many teachers are now wondering if new methods of close, limited analysis might help us deliver broadly defined curricula. For example, the idea of “skipping centuries” in favor of a more “object-centered” approach is proposed in a recent blog post by Olivia Powell, Associate Museum Educator for Academic programs at the Frick Collection and part-time Lecturer in the Department of Art History & Archaeology at Columbia University. In “The Art of Skipping Centuries,” Powell describes Columbia’s Art Humanities course, as an appended form of the canon which, rather than cramming centuries of art into a single semester, focuses on three or four key images, with an emphasis on visual analysis rather than historical context. In order to do so, Powell calls for instructors to “flip the classroom,” a model in which instructors are encouraged to “trade the lectern for the roundtable and facilitate critical dialogues.” From a pedagogical perspective, the flipped classroom is learner-centered and drastically increases student engagement.

One of the drawbacks, however, is that while forsaking the “sage on the stage” role in order to be the “guide on the side,” instructors need to budget more time for preparation. Keeping such pedagogical considerations in mind, we are interested in performing time experiments. Our workshop will ask questions that address how close reading and object-centered approaches in literature and art history can help us not only better value the time and education of our students but also better utilize and manage our own academic time. Abandoning our usual fantasies about devoting plenty of time to scholarly work, we have made a commitment to spend only a few hours on the studies with which our session begins, and to work with materials that are relevant to our own research. Each of the three facilitators will present a ten-minute lesson on a single text or image, and the discussion that follows will address the following questions:

1. Did the time frame of 1621 emerge as a significant connection between these various cultural objects? Are there other points of convergence that seem more compelling?

2. Why does a date of publication or composition matter (if it does)? What do we tell our students about the scholarly conventions of dating texts and images?

3. Imagining ourselves as undergraduate students, what information and methods to we gather from each of these lessons, and from their presentation as a triad?

4. Does an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to teaching allow us to do more with less time? What are the specific benefits of sharing the classroom in these ways?

List of Readings:

Taylor, John. THE COLD TEARME: Or the Frozen Age: Or the Metamorphosis of the Riuer of Thames.1621. EEBO: STC (2nd ed.) / 23910.

Wroth, Mary. The Countesse of Montgomeries Urania. 1621. (selections)

Images:

Buytewech, Willem Pietersz. A Poultry Market in a Dutch Town (1621), The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Art History Teaching Resources has just received a Kress Digital Resources Grant for $20,000 to support preliminary research toward development of Art History Pedagogy and Practice, an academic, peer reviewed e-journal devoted to pedagogy in art history that will be hosted on the AHTR website. For more information check out their announcement.

On June 21, 2015, Pioneer Works will host its first Summit on Pedagogy. The program will consider the values and beliefs that underlie the way we teach, interact and collaborate; and offer hands-on workshops on a range of disciplines and approaches.

The summit is co-organized by Catherine Despont Director of Education at Pioneer Works, and Hallie Scott, Education Director at the Wassaic Project.

Full schedule here.

Register here.

Okay, now it is my turn to facilitate our class discussion forum.
While I have experience facilitating in person, I have never actually attempted an academic conversation online. So I began where I usually do when I want to learn something new: Google. And as usual, a quick online search turned up some valuable advice.

In particular, a blog post on “How to Facilitate Robust Online discussions,” proved to be most helpful. Debbie Morrison notes, “The role of the moderator is to promote thinking, challenge learners to think, consider a problem or situation from alternative viewpoints and to develop new knowledge through thinking and constructing.” Check her blog out for more information on how to set goals for the discussion, ask the right questions, and promote controversial discussion.

According to my favourite guilty pleasure resource, Wikipedia, Information graphics or infographics are “graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends… Infographics have evolved in recent years to be for mass communication, and thus are designed with fewer assumptions about the readers’ knowledge base than other types of visualizations.”

Last semester, on a bit of a whim, I assigned creating an infographic as one of the students’ portfolio options. In doing so, I was surprised to find that very few students claimed to know what an infographic was or how to make one. And now, thanks to my latest PIDP course, here I was confronted with my own infographic to create.

At first I was surprised by how many free, online tools there were for creating sleek infographics. Piktochart, Canva, Hubspot, Venngage, and many others all provide rather user friend programs to assist in visually arranging data in a visual way. Once I did a quick bit of research into the topic I wished to present, I got down to business, attempting to diagram in a meaningful way, my selected student engagement technique. And to be honest I loved it! I could have spent hours fiddling with the information blocks, playing with varying fonts, and choosing appropriate images. The process however did make me realize how important it was to not just cut and past text, but how to best express in visual terms, what I wanted the viewer to quickly understand.

Regardless of whether you believe in learning styles, many of the students I work with are practicing artists and are therefore, obviously, visually inclined. Now having experienced the process of creating an infographic for myself, I am impressed by the potential they have for encouraging students to research, and present their ideas in an organized, impactful, and immediate way. Next semester I will be asking students to create infographics depicting the different art periods that we will be covering in class. Because this is a relatively new type of assignment, I am already thinking of ways to create a marking rubric that will guide their efforts.

Educator Ann Elliot recently declared in an Edudemic post on Infographics, “Conveying information in a striking, concise way has never been more important, and infographics are the perfect pedagogical tool with which to do so.” And now that followed the process myself, I couldn’t agree more!

Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates invention. It shocks us out of sheep-like passivity and sets us at noting and contriving… Conflict is a sine qua non of reflection and ingenuity. Dewey (1916, p. 188)

As outlined by Elizabeth F. Barkley in Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty, “academic controversy” is a cooperative learning technique in which learners are grouped to debate two opposing views on an issue before attempting to reach a consensus on the issue (Barkley 199).

I have used debates in classes before to have students discuss issues that have sparked academic controversies, but I have never formally structured the activity in a way where students debate each side, before working toward a unanimous decision. Ideally, this student engagement technique (SET) would be implemented in one, three-hour session, where I present a highly contested topic for example the much-debated work by Andres Serrano, Piss Christ from 1987. Students could then research the troubled history of the work and form opinions as to if the piece is a thoughtful work of art or an outrageous blasphemy. In doing so students would not only learn about Serrano’s production but also the art market in the late 1980s, contemporary museum practices, theories in conceptual art, and what is often referred to as the field of cultural production. Ideally this SET would provide an opportunity for students to consider the often very complex, nuanced perspectives at play in art production. As Barkely notes, “participation in this SET challenges students to grapple with an fundamental dilemma in the discipline and deepens their understanding so that they are better prepared to address the issue either as future art historians or as citizens who care about the collections in their local, state, and national museums” (Barkley, 201).

Initially, the role of the educator is to select an appropriate, applicable controversy for the students to debate. As in other situations it is important that the task provide an optimal level of challenge, where the concepts are sufficiently difficult to stretch thinking, but not so difficult as to dampen the motivation (Barkley, 27). During the exercise the educator must truly facilitate the discussions in a way that moves the thinking along but does not stifle the sharing of opinions. Finally, the educator must conclude the exercise by leading an appropriate debrief that aligns the ideas discussed to the learning objectives and allows for students to make connections to other applications. 

Academic controversy is a great SET to use because the good far outweigh the bad. According to Jacobs, the strategy “maintains the educational benefits of controversy, while blending the benefits of cooperation, in order to facilitate an environment that encourages everyone to take part, to learn, to support the learning of others and to address important issues” (Jacobs, 295). It encourages a range of modes of expression other than speaking, for students to present their findings. Another consideration is the ways in which teachers, peers, and materials provide scaffolding for struggling students. And ultimately by encouraging students to empathize and argue different sides of an issue, the activity promotes agile, critical thinking (Jacobs, 293-295). Some of the cons for this SET include the potential for one person or pair to dominate the conversation, the activity could require an extended period of time to allow students to thoroughly research the topic and form a cooperative group, and the issue could become too controversial for students come to an agreement. That being said all of these disadvantages can be avoided if the teacher has created a positive learning environment where students can collaborate and respectfully challenge ideas.

I am excited to include the Academic Controversy SET in my lesson planning for this fall. Not only is it a fun activity but as Jacobs suggests, “The supportive environment promoted by cooperative learning techniques such as Academic Controversy makes it more likely that these issues can be addressed not just as academic topics to debate in class but also as real world matters that require real world actions” (Jacobs, 295). As such, I am looking forward to utilizing it as just one more way to promote active, engaged learning in art history classrooms.

References

Barkley, E.F. (2010) Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper &Row.

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and Education: An introduction to the Philosophy of Education (1966 ed.). New York: Free Press.

Jacobs, G. M. (2010). Academic Controversy: A cooperative way to debate. Intercultural Education, 21 (3), 291-296.

Piaget, J. (1975) Equilibration of cognitive structures. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.